Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Interrupting Chicken” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Interrupting Chicken

(Interrupting Chicken #1)

David Ezra Stein

4.21 · Rating details · 15,653 ratings · 1,360 reviews

Awarded a 2011 Caldecott Honor!

A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken’s habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head.

It’s time for the little red chicken’s bedtime story —and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can’t help herself! Whether the tale is HANSEL AND GRETEL or LITTLE RED RIDING HO ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 40 pages

Published August 10th 2010 by Candlewick Press

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Interrupting Chicken, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Interrupting Chicken

Lists with This Book

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Favorite Funny Story Time Picture Books

245 books — 209 voters

The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone

Picture Books That Break the "Fourth Wall"

165 books — 99 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.21 ·

Rating details

· 15,653 ratings · 1,360 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Interrupting Chicken

Aug 20, 2019 Calista rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010, award-various, bage-children, genre-comedy, award-caldecott, series, genre-fantasy, series-will-not-finish, want-to-own

This story is cute and it reminds me of the nephew. A father is trying to read the little Hen a bedtime story, which is something I do too, and the little Hen keeps interrupting the story because she knows it. Both, the nephew and the niece, but mostly the nephew have this issue. If it’s a good story, they get involved and they have to interrupt the story to ask a question or make a comment. Unless it’s a slow biography story that bores them to sleep, but still, a question will creep up.

The fat ...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2020 David Schaafsma rated it really liked it

Shelves: picturebooks

A 2011 Caldecott Honor book that I read primarily because I saw it on Calista's site, though she gave it only 3 stars, and then confirmed that it would be the kind of title Melki would read (and it is; I look to Melki for the best--oddest, most startling, funniest--titles, when I need that kind of fix.

I like surprising picture books and this kinda was; a chicken Dad (ok, rooster), is trying to get his kid (ok, chicken, though not to say chick) to go to sleep, reading to him book after book which ...more

flag 26 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2010 Mir rated it really liked it

Shelves: picture

Aww, Little Chicken wants to save the characters in her books from their own stupidity!
I sympathize. ...more

flag 26 likes · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2011 Colby Sharp rated it it was amazing

Shelves: character, fantasy

Loved this book. I thought it would be fun to try and do something funny (it never works when I try to be funny) for this revi-Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, "Get off Goodreads and grade some math papers."

Little red chicken is probably right, but grading/planning math is never as much fun as checking twitter and goodre-Out jumped a little red chicken, and she said, "Dude, you really need to vacuum the floors. Seriously get off the computer."

Wow, not sure if this review is working ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2011 Sarah BT rated it liked it

Shelves: picture-books

This is a cute little story, but I had a couple of problems with it. Interrupting Chicken was a Caldecott Honor Book this year so I think I was expecting some amazing artwork. And while the illustrations are good, they didn't really stand out to me and say "yes, this is a Caldecott Honor!" I did like the varying illustrations to alternate between little chicken and her father and the storybooks they're reading. And the author/illusrator does a good job of expressing emotions in Papa chicken's ey ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2010 Donalyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: primary-picture-books, ncbla-committee-2011-books

When animals appear on a book cover, you can predict a lot about the book. If there's a dog on the cover, get the tissue. If a chicken's on the cover, you know the book is funny. I am not sure why we find chickens so amusing, but Interrupting Chicken will make you laugh and remind you of how funny children can be, too.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 04, 2014 Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: picture-books

I've met this chicken, I've tried to read to this chicken, and yep it went about the same for me.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2016 Agnė rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, fairy-tales, for-class, picturebook, children, fantasy, humor, favorites, animals

4.5 out of 5
I simply loved the story, the illustrations, the COLORS. However, I cannot get over the fact that the chicken that clearly looks like a little rooster is actually a SHE! Sorry, but hens don't have tails like that!

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2018 Melki rated it really liked it

Shelves: kidstuff, feathered-friends

Little Red Chicken keeps interrupting his father's bedtime stories by shouting out warnings to the fictional characters. I'm pretty sure this he's the kid who was sitting behind me at the movies a few nights ago.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2018 Sylvester rated it liked it

Shelves: animals, squirt, children-s, 2018, humor

3* art
3* story

A little young for Squirt, but I had to read it to him because he is the Master Of Interrupting. He thought the chicken was funny, but he didn't get the joke on him at all.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 02, 2011 Katie Fitzgerald rated it it was amazing

Shelves: format-picture-books, 2011

In Interrupting Chicken, the 2011 Caldecott Honor book by David Ezra Stein, a chicken and her Papa sit down to read a series of classic fairy tales before it's time to go sleep. Chicken promises not to interrupt the stories, but then proceeds to do so time and again, unable to help herself. When she finally settles down, Papa reverses the roles by falling asleep and interrupting the last story with his snoring.

When I was reading this, I focused mostly on the art, since that's what won the award, In Interrupting Chicken, the 2011 Caldecott Honor book by David Ezra Stein, a chicken and her Papa sit down to read a series of classic fairy tales before it's time to go sleep. Chicken promises not to interrupt the stories, but then proceeds to do so time and again, unable to help herself. When she finally settles down, Papa reverses the roles by falling asleep and interrupting the last story with his snoring.

When I was reading this, I focused mostly on the art, since that's what won the award, and once I started looking carefully at the illustrations, I realized how truly brilliant they are.

The title page draws us into the story with a spread showing a quiet and empty house, with low lamps burning, and various items left lying around, illustrating how Chicken and Papa must have spent their day. This picture is warm and homey and felt very realistic to me. Especially impressive is the way Stein uses light to indicate that night has fallen, and that the house is dark and quiet.

On the verso side of that first page, there is one full page of gorgeous green wallpaper, followed on the recto side by a field of white with one circle in the center. Inside that circle, Papa helps Chicken into her pajamas. Over the next few pages, the reader is drawn in closer and closer to the bed - the white space surrounding the images slowly disappears with each page turn, until the entire page is filled with color, and it feels like the reader is all tucked in along with Chicken.

From here, we zoom in even further and settle on the pages of the book as Papa starts to read. The pages themselves have lots of neat details, including food particles and other objects left behind in the crevices. Papa begins reading the standard fairy tale texts, but each time, Chicken explodes onto the pages with warnings for the stories' characters. When this happens, the old fashioned looking illustrations within the fairy tales react to Chicken with annoyance, and rearrange themselves on the page to accommodate her outbursts. She keeps promising not to interrupt, but keeps it up anyway as they attempt to read Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, and Chicken Little. In the end, Chicken ends up writing her own story, with amazingly child-like crayon illustrations, and truly realistic misspellings, such as "Chikn."

In addition to being visually appealing, this book fills the need for more picture books featuring fathers and daughters, and especially fathers reading to their kids. It would make a nice father's day read for families, and maybe even a nice gift for fathers, since the humor here will appeal easily to adults as well as children. David Ezra Stein's other picture books include: Pouch, Leaves, Monster Hug!, The Nice Book, Cowboy Ned and Andy, and Ned's New Friend. His website can be found at davidezra.com. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2013 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: libs-642

Little Red Chicken has trouble hearing a whole bedtime story without interrupting her Papa Chicken right at the good part. When he gives up and allows her to tell the story, guess who ends up interrupting with some snores?
This book would be a fun way to introduce writing concepts for fiction including the importance of conflict and resolution.
The stories her papa uses are familiar to her so Little Red Chicken interrupts at every critical point with her own resolution designed to prevent any str ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2015 Kathy rated it liked it

Shelves: fairy-tales

Am I the only one who thinks that Interrupting chicken needs clear and consistent consequences? Lol! Just saying...

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 22, 2016 Kit Pang rated it really liked it

The chicken should have been a boy!

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2016 Stephanie Calhoun rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-books

This is a fantastic book to use when teaching students about classroom discussion etiquette.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2015 Kathryn Dykes rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, caldecott-award-winning

Plot summary & personal response: Interrupting chicken is a delightful children’s book with playful illustrations, which is simply written but enjoyable for everyone. Little red chicken can't wait to hear bedtime stories from her Papa, but her enthusiasm and excitement interrupt the adventurous tales of Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, & Chicken Little, as the characters find themselves drawing near to trouble. Little red chicken quickly jumps into the stories to save the day, leaving he Plot summary & personal response: Interrupting chicken is a delightful children’s book with playful illustrations, which is simply written but enjoyable for everyone. Little red chicken can't wait to hear bedtime stories from her Papa, but her enthusiasm and excitement interrupt the adventurous tales of Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, & Chicken Little, as the characters find themselves drawing near to trouble. Little red chicken quickly jumps into the stories to save the day, leaving her Papa frustrated and little chicken wide awake. In the end little chicken creates her very own goodnight story for Papa, which is then interrupted by Papa's snoring! Little chicken lovingly tucks her Papa in, snuggles up close, and falls fast asleep.

Literary Merit: This enjoyable picture book reflects and supports insight of human behavior by putting an amusing twist on the exhausting struggle many parents have of putting their kids to bed at night. Many children can relate to the excitement and anticipation that comes along with reading stories, waiting for the thrill of the climax, similar to that of little red chicken. Little red chicken’s personality has similar characteristics to that of a real child, “Oh, Papa. I couldn’t let that little chicken get all upset over an acorn! Please read me one more story, and I promise I’ll fall asleep”, instantly making her likable and heartening. The colorful illustrations and easy to read text makes this book perfect for young children as a good night story or just for a fun read.

Genre: Interrupting Chicken can clearly be defined as a children’s fantasy picture book. The detailed illustrations and use of contrasting colors between the pages draws the reader in. The illustrator carefully designed the pages to show the difference between settings; making it easy to distinguish when little red chicken was being read the fairy-tales of her favorite books and when she was interrupting them. The attention to detail within the pictures makes this book well deserving of the Caldecott Honor. The reader can almost feel the emotions of little red chicken’s enthusiasm and Papa’s frustration through the artwork.

Reader’s Response/Classroom Connections: This book would make the perfect introduction for the first read aloud within a classroom on characteristics of a good audience, suitable for Kindergarten- 2nd grade. After reading Interrupting Chicken, the class as a whole can list qualities they should practice when listening to a story or when others are talking, such as using listening ears, eyes on speaker, do not interrupt, sit quietly, etc. The teacher can record the input from the class on a large anchor chart, which can then be hung for the students to refer to as needed. This helps give the class some general guidelines of what is excepted when the focus should be on the teacher and makes the students feel included in developing the environment of the class.
Another activity that could be incorporated into the classroom is for the students to create a comparison list between Interrupting Chicken and a Respectful Student (themselves). The teacher could provide a simple worksheet with characteristics that an “Interrupting Chicken” would possess, then on the other the students would write down what they think an appropriate response would look like. An example of this may look like: Interrupting Chicken- Yells out an answer while a friend is trying to think about their answer; Respectful Student- Waits until teacher has called on you before speaking. This activity would help reinforce a positive classroom environment, build upon their writing skills, and learn how to compare/contrast.
...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 Cassie rated it liked it

Shelves: picturebooks, chickens, preschool

I was told to be on the look out for this book - from several people. It's bedtime and Papa wants to read little red chicken a story. Papa tries three different stories and each time little red chicken cannot help herself - she must jump right in there and participate in the story, i.e. interrupt. For example, while her poor father is in the middle of reading Little Red Riding Hood, little red chicken must interrupt the story with a big ole "Don't talk to strangers!" aimed right at Little Red Ri I was told to be on the look out for this book - from several people. It's bedtime and Papa wants to read little red chicken a story. Papa tries three different stories and each time little red chicken cannot help herself - she must jump right in there and participate in the story, i.e. interrupt. For example, while her poor father is in the middle of reading Little Red Riding Hood, little red chicken must interrupt the story with a big ole "Don't talk to strangers!" aimed right at Little Red Riding Hood. This is an excellent story for sharing aloud or reading together at bedtime. It would be a great addition to a storytime on manners, chickens, or even behavior. But can I talk about the one little, itty, bitty, tiny bit of the story that really bothers me?!?! Please???

Through the entire story little red chicken is referred to using female pronouns. Look at her! She's a rooster! Roosters are boys! Which means, she should be a HE!

Ok, I am a librarian - I do not know a heck of a lot about roosters or chickens, so I thought I would do some research. The three things about little red that bother me are: the big crest, the big wattle, and the long green tail feathers. When you have those three things, you have a rooster. Yes, yes, I know - female red chickens can have a crest and wattle too, though they are typically much smaller and red hens do not have long, green, tail feathers. (see "The Little Red Hen")

I know, there's artistic license and all that stuff, but really, doesn't little red look like a boy rooster? Am I missing some deeper joke? Help!!! I suppose if she was missing one of the nagging elements, it wouldn't bother me so much... maybe. To be honest though, it probably would. Picture books are usually a great teaching tool - but only when they are accurate.

I know that kids are really not going to care. They are going to hear this fun loving story about a father and daughter at bedtime and want to hear it again and again... It really is a fantastic story, and so fun to read aloud, but can't we just be somewhat accurate in the illustrations?!? Please? Thanks for listening to my rant - or totally ignoring it :) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion!

***Edited to add: What was the Caldecott committee thinking?!?
...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 28, 2014 Heidi-Marie rated it liked it

Shelves: children-0-12, preschool-storytime-prep, preschool-storytime-read, fiction, picture-books

Very fun. A perfect one to try in storytime. I enjoyed the pictures. Lots of possibilities for voices in this. Perfect choice for a PJ storytime because of the going to bed aspect. Fabulous for a lap-read at night or even before a nap.

10/8/14 I had a ton of fun reading this. They seemed to be into it and liked when the chicken interrupted. Adults liked it, too. Because I had a younger crowd, I decided to do a quick summary of each original tale so they could remember how it was supposed to go a ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2011 Kathryn rated it really liked it

Here is the story of a little chicken who is so enthusiastic about bedtime stories they hardly lull her to sleep. Her father is happy to read her stories but asks her to please remember not to interrupt and to try to fall asleep. But when familiar stories (Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and Little Red Hen) are read, the little chicken can't help bursting into the story with a quicker and happier solution to the problems at hand. What will happen when an exasperated and very tired father trie ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2017 Amy Layton rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picturebooks

This book is SO fun and absolutely perfect for a bedtime story. It's a book within a book--the "inner" book being the one Chicken's father is reading to him, but even the characters within that inner book react whenever Chicken interrupts! I love the art style and how metafictive it is (I'm always a sucker for metafiction). It's just so funny and sweet at the end, and it's certainly a great pick for children--especially those who like to interrupt!

Review cross-listed here! ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2010 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it liked it

Shelves: read-childrens-books, read-caldecott, own-ebook

A 2011 Caldecott Award honor book. Papa can never finish reading a story to Chicken, because she keeps interrupting and finishing the story for him. What is he to do? I'm sure there are parents out there with this same problem. This is a good book to teach kids the meaning of "interruption". I didn't care for the artwork much, which is why I gave it 3 instead of 4 stars. We read it to the pre-schoolers in our last storytime, and they loved it. Recommended.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2011 Dianna rated it really liked it

Papa chicken tries to read his daughter a succession of bedtime fairy tales, but the little chicken keeps interrupting to fix the characters' mistakes, give them an immediate happy ending, and drastically shorten the story. Finally Papa asks the little red chicken to tell him a story . . . and he finds it rather soporific.

I liked the story and how engaging it was when read out loud. This is a great time to use your voices. I didn't love the illustrations; they're just not to my taste.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2019 Mely rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-books

This book is hilarious. I think it makes for a very fun read aloud. Little chicken is a hoot. The author did a great job illustrating the story especially with the illustrated book excerpts. This book literally made me laugh out loud.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2011 Ms. B rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011, picture, honor

Very funny - I look forward to seeing more books by David Ezra Stein in the future!
A knowledge of Hansel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Chicken Little will make this even more enjoyable. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2017 Jenny rated it it was amazing

We all want our students (and children) to be just like the interrupting chicken! Totally into the book, discussing the story, and even making up their own. Great book!!!

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2017 Casandria rated it really liked it

Shelves: picture, preschool, camp-read, b-story-time, school-aged-readers, c-story-time, s-story-time

Great fun--I love the little red chicken's expressions, and also her sense of injustice! Fun for a school aged story time about chickens, bedtime, or stories.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2016 Joshua Arvey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: picture-books, fantasy, caldecott-award

Title: Interrupting Chicken
Author/Illustrator: David Ezra Stein
Genre: Fantasy
Themes: Fantasy, Picture Book, Caldecott Award

Plot Summery: Interrupting Chicken is about a little chicken that is getting ready for bed. As her Papa is about to put her to bed she reminds him that he has to ready a story to her. As the title gives it away Papa Chicken asks Little Chicken if she will interrupt him during the story and she graciously says she won’t. Only come to find out that when Papa is reading the fir Title: Interrupting Chicken
Author/Illustrator: David Ezra Stein
Genre: Fantasy
Themes: Fantasy, Picture Book, Caldecott Award

Plot Summery: Interrupting Chicken is about a little chicken that is getting ready for bed. As her Papa is about to put her to bed she reminds him that he has to ready a story to her. As the title gives it away Papa Chicken asks Little Chicken if she will interrupt him during the story and she graciously says she won’t. Only come to find out that when Papa is reading the first story Little Chicken interrupts him and changes the story line to what she feels fits best. She insists that she would not interrupt during the next story, but it happens again and then again another time. After the third time of interrupting there are no more stories to read. With Little Chicken still not tired yet for bed Papa Chicken comes up with the idea that she tells a story to him. Not even three pages into her story Papa Chicken falls asleep and Little Chicken comes up next to him and falls asleep next to her Papa.

Literary Merit: Characterization: In Interrupting Chicken the author introduces the two main characters Papa Chicken and Little Chicken on page one. We are shown that Little Chicken has a problem of interrupting her Papa while he tells her bedtime stories throughout the story. This type of behavior would be typical for the age that Little Chicken appears to be. Even though Little Chicken does not learn to stop interrupting her father in each of the three books he tried to read to her she was able to create her own bedtime story that she could tell her own way using her imagination.

Reader Response / Classroom Connections: There is a variety of ways that this book could be inter-disciplined into other subjects. For example, we can turn this into a readers theater that could let students not only create their props for the part they will play but in addition to allowing them to act out book which will allow them to make a better connection with the story.

Additional notes: I agree that Interrupting Chicken deserved the Caldecott Award for different reasons. First, the illustrations David Stein used excellent techniques that created beautiful creations. He used a variety of different tools to create the pictures using crayons, watercolor, tea, and china marker. One can tell that each detail of the pictures was intentional. From the egg picture hanging up in the living room to act as a baby picture to the yellow journal that Little Chicken will use to tell her story was under her bed in each picture when Papa was telling the stories.

...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 10, 2019 Krysten Morgan added it

Shelves: caldecott-medal-honor-books

Genre: Fantasy
Grade Levels: K-3
Themes: Bedtime, storytelling, chickens
Major Award: Caldecott Honor Book (2011)

Summary- This story is about a father chicken who is trying to put his daughter chicken to bed with bedtime stories. The daughter, however, seems to interrupt every time he tries to tell a story. She likes to butt in and make her own, more positive ending to the story. Papa decides to ask the daughter to tell him a story instead. She begins to tell her story and papa almost immediately Genre: Fantasy
Grade Levels: K-3
Themes: Bedtime, storytelling, chickens
Major Award: Caldecott Honor Book (2011)

Summary- This story is about a father chicken who is trying to put his daughter chicken to bed with bedtime stories. The daughter, however, seems to interrupt every time he tries to tell a story. She likes to butt in and make her own, more positive ending to the story. Papa decides to ask the daughter to tell him a story instead. She begins to tell her story and papa almost immediately falls asleep.

Personal Response- I really loved the daughter chicken and her enthusiasm. Seeing her jump up and get excited about stories helped me to be excited about this story. I also love that I can relate to the bedtime story aspect of this story because I loved to hear stories before bed. Hearing stories that I already knew within this story also made it engaging to me.

Other Info- One reason I think this book deserved the Caldecott Medal is for the “excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept.” The pictures really add to the text of the story. While the story doesn’t tell us things such as the excitement of the little chicken, the images show her jumping out of bed with wide eyes. If you just read the text, you wouldn’t get as good of or the same story as if you looked at the text and images together. The illustrator choose to use watercolor, water-soluble crayon, china marker, pen, opaque white ink, and tea. Using so many different choices of media creates really fun, interesting images. I am wondering how they used tea in these images. There are a lot of strong lines in these images. For example, the line between the father and daughter when the father gets frustrated with her. The illustrator also uses shape to tell the story. For example, some of the images are drawn within a circle. This can help show a focus on that image as well as happiness and peace.

color and value line shape

Reader response/Classroom Connection -
1) After reading this book, I would like to do an alternate ending activity. We could talk about how the daughter kept changing the ending to something nicer and more peaceful before the children do their own example. We could do this with another story we have read or with this story itself. They would each get to write and share their own endings.

2) We could use this to talk about manners and listening. We could talk about and practice actually listening to one another without interrupting. We could have them first interrupt one another and talk about how that makes them feel. We could then speak to one another without interrupting and talk about how different that feels.
...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2016 Alexandra Mauger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: caldecott, bedtime, interrupting, creativity, fantasy, picture-book

Plot Summary: This book is about a young chicken, simply known as Chicken, who is trying to sleep by listening to her father, Papa, read her favorite bedtime stories. However, Chicken keeps interjecting in the middle of the bedtime stories. She prevents the main characters from doing something wrong and makes each story have a quick and happy ending. When Papa has run out of bedtimes stories to read, Papa suggests that Chicken read him a story to help them sleep. Chicken writes her own bedtime s Plot Summary: This book is about a young chicken, simply known as Chicken, who is trying to sleep by listening to her father, Papa, read her favorite bedtime stories. However, Chicken keeps interjecting in the middle of the bedtime stories. She prevents the main characters from doing something wrong and makes each story have a quick and happy ending. When Papa has run out of bedtimes stories to read, Papa suggests that Chicken read him a story to help them sleep. Chicken writes her own bedtime story for Papa, and shortly after she begins reading it, Papa interrupts with his loud snoring. The book ends with Chicken and Papa finally getting some sleep.

Literary Merit: Characterization: Chicken has traits that readers may find in themselves or others. She has bad habits like being unable to resist the urge to interrupt each bedtime story. She also displays compassion for the main characters of the stories when she inserts herself into the stories to stop the characters from making bad decisions or prevent them from having misunderstandings. She even displays creativity by altering each story’s plot in her own way in order to produce happy endings. Additionally, she uses her creativity to write and draw a bedtime story for Papa instead of just picking a book to read to him.

Additional Notes: I believe that this book deserves the Caldecott Honor since its illustrations match well with the story. The book uses different types of illustrations to appropriately distinguish between the bedtime stories, including Chicken’s own drawings, and the setting with Chicken and Papa. The artwork perfectly captures how the bedtime stories change when Chicken practically hops into them. I also feel that the visuals are presented in a way that would capture and keep children’s attention.

Reader Response/Classroom Connections: I think that this book displays how people can use their creativity to make their own stories, just as Chicken wrote and even drew her own story for Papa. Elementary teachers can use this book to structure an activity or project that requires each of the students to create an original short story and make it into a picture book. The students can make their books on paper or electronically, such as on tablets, if possible. When the students are finished, they can read their stories to the class. This assignment would support the students’ creative thinking and help to improve the students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2016 Casey rated it it was amazing

Synthesis: The Interrupting Chicken is a fun spin on the old-fashioned bedtime story. The main character, a little chicken, is being put to sleep by his father, but not before hearing a bedtime story. As the father reads bedtime classics to his son, the chicken CONSTANTLY butts in in the middle of the story, shouts out the solution to the problem and ending to the story, and the begs for another. Eventually, all of the stories run out and Chicken has to create his own bedtime story that he reads Synthesis: The Interrupting Chicken is a fun spin on the old-fashioned bedtime story. The main character, a little chicken, is being put to sleep by his father, but not before hearing a bedtime story. As the father reads bedtime classics to his son, the chicken CONSTANTLY butts in in the middle of the story, shouts out the solution to the problem and ending to the story, and the begs for another. Eventually, all of the stories run out and Chicken has to create his own bedtime story that he reads to his father. Through hilarious repetition and vivid illustrations, Interrupting Chicken, is far from a story that will put you to sleep at night.
Teaching Connections: My immediate thought as I read this book was, “Wow this sounds ALL too familiar during my class read alouds!” Students get so antsy and excited to share their thoughts and connections to books that they often burst out what is on their mind. In the future, I want to introduce this book at the beginning of the year with a lesson on read aloud/mini-lesson expectations. I would want to make a chart, as a class, that visually displays “interrupting chicken behaviors vs. respectful chicken behaviors” that would hang near our reading corner.

I love an activity, such as the one above, to individualize the assignment as well. The students can work on their own specific way that they want to avoid being an interrupting chicken, and then when the class comes back together, these ideas can be used to make the whole class chart.
A book like this, is also a great introduction into inferencing as the use of the pattern allows students to predict what will happen next, since it is clear to see that the plot repeats itself.
Why this is a WOW Book: The illustrations in the book are wonderful! The way the author combines the bedtime story and the chicken within one page by making the colors of the chicken “pop” more and the story more neutral tones, REALLY makes it seem like he is jumping in the middle of the story as he interrupts. This is such a great strategy that really shows how distracting of an action this is without having to explicitly say it in the text.

...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
MCC Children's Li...: Have New Books!	1	1	Mar 13, 2012 12:52PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein Book Trailer

1 comment

In the Studio: David Ezra Stein on Interrupting Chicken

Add a comment

Genres

Childrens > Picture Books

933 users

Childrens

185 users

Animals

134 users

Humor

129 users

Fiction

77 users

Childrens > Storytime

74 users

Fantasy

53 users

Fantasy > Fairy Tales

49 users

Family

47 users

Fairy Tales > Fractured Fairy Tales

21 users

See top shelves…

About David Ezra Stein

David Ezra Stein

93 followers

David Ezra Stein is an author-illustrator whose previous books include LEAVES, winner of an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award. He lives in Kew Gardens, New York.